Erkoya's formal defeat—although he wasn't a Devil Fruit user and couldn't bring himself Pokémon and items, the Rokushiki he learned from him were no less important than Pokémon and items.
"Roar!"
Tant, bruised and battered, roared to the sky. Mad Dog Gutt was finally defeated by him—purely a narrow win. If it weren't for the powerful recovery of an Animal-type Fruit keeping him hanging onto that last breath, he would be lying on the ground right now.
"Let's go, the pirates in the city…"
Vane called to Tant and was about to head into the city to clean up some pirates, but then he saw a large group of pirates rushing out of the city in a panic, as fast as if Mad Dog were chasing them from behind.
"The Marines—damn it, the Marines and the World Government are here."
"Run, the Marines and the World Government have landed at the docks."
"We're screwed!"
The Marines and the World Government are here? The timing is a bit too perfect.
"Tant, go contact the Black Panther, tell everyone to avoid conflict with the Marines. I'll go into the city and see what's going on."
When Vane rushed to the palace, he saw a hole blown open at the main gate. Who did this?
Luckily, Bonez and the others were right at the entrance.
"What happened?"
Vane used Geppo and followed with an air Soru, quickly arriving at the gate.
Bonez: "The situation is a bit complicated. I'll keep it short…"
The real king was blown to death, blown to pieces, right at the palace gate.
The gang boss—who now was very likely already recognized as this country's king—when he was taking the real king out as a hostage, threw him onto a pre-arranged pile of explosives and directly turned him into nothing but fragments.
"He went under the gang's protection to the docks to make contact with the Marines and the government. Now we, and even Rose Princess Martha, are very likely to become criminals who overturned this country's regime."
"Oh right, Meowth went with them too."
Before, Vane and Lena's guesses were still too cautious. They always thought the king was the mastermind behind all this. They didn't expect the king to become the prey, counter-killed by the gang boss.
"Seriously, we were clearly heroes resisting the pirates, and in the mouth of a fake king we're about to become wanted criminals who overturned the regime."
Vane had been avoiding becoming a wanted criminal all along. He didn't expect that coming to Rose Island and fighting pirates once might get him wanted.
That's a bit unjust.
"Is there any chance to fix this? For example, that king hasn't contacted the Marines yet…"
Before Vane could finish, they heard the Marines using a loudspeaker from the direction of the docks.
"Attention everyone, attention everyone. The former Rose Princess Martha colluded with the pirate Vane to incite pirate unrest. Upon discovering the following individuals, shoot to kill."
"Former Rose Princess Martha, pirate Vane, pirate Lena…"
Vane: "..."
He suddenly remembered that he had contacted the gang so many times that the other side had quite a lot of information on him.
Bonez: "Now it looks like we can't take this hat off."
Lena: "I became a pirate?"
That's just how the situation is.
"Alright, you take everyone to the ship. I'll catch up later… He still wants to be king? King my ass."
Compared to being a wanted criminal, Vane originally actually wanted to be a bounty hunter, or even a Marine, maybe… Now that's it—the road is completely blocked.
One of the things the World Government cannot tolerate the most is overturning the regime of a member country of the World Government. That's digging at their roots.
On the pirate storyline, there have been two who did this.
Or rather, two pirates did this. One was Doflamingo, who overturned Dressrosa's regime. On top of already having Celestial Dragon blood, he also hijacked a shipment of "Heavenly Tribute" as leverage to make the World Government recognize his position as king.
The second was Crocodile. As a Shichibukai with the right of free plunder, he later stayed in the desert kingdom Alabasta. His goal was to find the ancient weapon Pluton, but all his actions were aimed at overturning the regime.
But even a Shichibukai wouldn't dare to overthrow it directly, instead using all kinds of schemes to stir up Alabasta's internal conflicts, smear the royal family, and present himself as a hero.
You can do it, but you absolutely can't let people know—you can't use open methods.
Vane's actions counted as half of it. Once recognized by the World Government, the wanted status is unavoidable.
It's like a fig leaf. No wonder Monkey D. Dragon later became the world's most heinous criminal—he specializes in overthrowing governments, and the World Government would gradually realize how terrifying the Revolutionary Army is.
Right now, the Revolutionary Army should not have been formally established yet, not enough to enter the World Government's sight.
...
Under the cover of the Gunfire Gang, the fake king successfully made contact with the Marines' vanguard and immediately, in the king's name, painted Rose Princess Martha and Vane as villains.
The Marines immediately spread the news throughout the city, and the fake king and his group continued toward the docks.
Almost there—about to reach the docks. Once he got onto the World Government's ship, he would be completely safe… maybe he wouldn't even have to pay with this Devil Fruit.
"The World Government and the Marines won't stay on Rose Island forever… our gang can."
Capone Bege also saw through the filth in the other's heart and reminded him in a low voice.
Only then did the fake king come to his senses. Right—this is the West Blue. If he really offended the gang to death, he wouldn't even be able to rest easy in the palace afterward.
Just now in the palace, Bege had lost several capable men. If he stabbed him in the back and let the other escape with his life, then his own life safety really wouldn't be guaranteed.
Imagine going out to tour the streets and enjoy with the people, and suddenly a hidden gang assassin puts a shot into your forehead. He didn't have the confidence to dodge it by shaking his head.
"When we get to the docks, I'll naturally give you the fruit."
The group finally saw the docks. On the docks were two large ships.
One was a Marine warship; the other flew the World Government's flag.
The fake king shouted excitedly, "I'm here!"
But the Marines reacted as if facing a great enemy.
"Careful! Enemy attack!"
Enemy attack?
The next moment, a whistling sound came from behind. A huge blue slash landed among them.
Rumble—
The fake king wasn't hit directly. The shockwave sent him flying, and even the Devil Fruit couldn't help slipping from his hand and rolling forward about a meter.
The fake king didn't have time to see who attacked him. His first reaction was to grab the Devil Fruit, but a figure was faster.
Meowth finally seized the chance, bit the Devil Fruit by the stem, and bolted.
"Little kitty! Come back, bring the Devil Fruit back!"
Meowth: "You're the little kitty! This great one is Meowth!"
"The cat talked!!"
Everyone present was shocked. Meowth used this chance to take a few quick steps and reached Vane's side.
"Devil Fruit secured, meow. If you didn't come, I was about to do it myself, meow."